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What is Peace through Strength?

Resolved, by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that, to maintain the enhance peace, freedom, and prosperity through military, economic and diplomatic strength, the President and Congress should adopt a national strategy of Peace Through Strength, the general principles and goals of which are as follows:

Whereas, the challenges of global stability did not cease with the end of the Cold War. Peace must be protected, enforced, and advanced with the same vigilance and determination America demonstrated to arrive at this point in our history.

Whereas, the United States has not outlined a clear doctrine regarding its role and place in a post-Cold War world. Instead of a foreign policy geared toward anticipating and shaping events abroad, we have watched events abroad shape our foreign policy.

Whereas, unless we ourselves begin to define who we are as a nation, what we want out of our role as a nation, and where we want to go and how we exercise our power, unless we decide it, it will occur by happenstance. We will move from crisis to crisis. We will not have a plan and we will end up in places in the world where we know not of what we speak.

Whereas, the President, the Congress, and the American people, working in cooperation with our global partners, must develop a new comprehensive and bipartisan foreign policy doctrine. Americans have to pull together and forge a coherent, bipartisan consensus to guide our country into the grand land it is today, and those who will inherit it from us in the years ahead deserve no less.

Resolved, by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring) That it is the sense of the Congress that the national security policy of the United States should reflect a national strategy of peace through strength, the general principles and goals of which would be:

(1) GLOBAL LEADERSHIP – The United States of America is now the only dominant power in the world. This provides America with immense opportunity but awesome responsibility. The United States must accept and maintain global leadership through a clear and consistent articulation of vital national interest and goals and the readiness to defend those interests and goals. America must continue to be a force for world peace, democracy, human rights and humanitarian assistance.

(2) BIPARTISANSHIP - The United States cannot lead the world without the support of the American people. National security policy must be bipartisan. America’s leaders need to speak with one voice to the world. Foreign policy should be bipartisan. America’s leaders need to speak with one voice to the world. The Congress will debate the best course as it should, but there is no room for partisan politics and partisan gain in doing what is right for America in the international arena.

(3) NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS – To deter aggression and defend our vital interests, it is essential to maintain highly trained, well-equipped, and combat-ready military forces, and the national will to prevail in any conflict. The use of military force by the United States must be a thoughtful, publicly supported action of last resort, applied decisively to achieve clearly stated objectives that are consistent with a vital interest of the United States.

(4) COOPERATIVE SECURITY – The United States is most effective when it works with its allies and those willing to work with us. America’s national security is enhanced through participation in global and regional political, military, and economic organizations, treaties and alliances. However, the United States must always retain its sovereignty and reserve the right to act unilaterally in accord with its own interests.

(5) ECONOMIC SECURITY – National wealth and economic strength are the foundation of all forms of power. America’s national economic policy must continue to foster private enterprise, to promote successful competition in the global marketplace, and to ensure free and fair access to critical resources and international markets.

(6) DIPLOMATIC READINESS – More than most Americans, members of the U.S. military well understand that diplomacy is the front-line of America’s national defense. Both U.S. diplomats and soldiers work on a daily basis to protect national security, and their missions overlap frequently.

(7) FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY – The economic vitally of the United States rests not only on free market competitiveness, but also on responsible financial management. Free, fair and open trade is the engine of growth for America’s economy. All nationals must work to break down barriers that inhibit global commerce and trade. Only then will all the world prosper. We in the United States must do far more to educate our people and our leaders on this issue.

(8) VIGILANCE – The United States must expand effective human and technical intelligence capabilities in order to ensure the capability to anticipate, detect, and respond to emerging military, economic, and political threats.

(9) CORE VALUES – American foreign policy must reinforce and promote its core values of democracy, free markets, human rights, and the rule of law. America’s most important export to the international community is its ideals and ideas. Americans are committed to democracy and human rights. They cherish open elections, and freedom of speech. America promotes free and fair trade, so that everyone has a chance to prosper. Every person in the world should have the same opportunity to enjoy these basic democratic values.

(10) EMERGINC THREATS – America must address the new threats and injustices of the global age: terrorism, naco-trafficking, biological and chemical warfare and the deadly spread of AIDS and human rights. Biological and chemical weapons are relatively inexpensive and easy to make, and yet are potentially deadlier than nuclear weapons.

(11) OTHER SECURITY THREATS – The United States must act to lessen, prevent, and eliminate security threats, including threats posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and high technology conventional arms and disruption of access of vital resources.

(12) TECHNOLOGICAL SUPERIORITY – The United States must maintain a strong technology and industrial base with a skilled work force to fully support superior United States global economic competitiveness and military preparedness. At the same time, safeguards must be placed against the transfer of potentially dangerous technology to foreign powers hostile to the interest of the United States.

(13) ENERGY INDEPENDENCE – The United States must systematically and sharply reduce its dependence on imported oil through the fostering of conservation, the expansion of clean coal technology, and the development of new and environmentally compatible fuels, renewable sources of energy, or both.

(14) NATIONAL UNITY – The principal goals of the United States have always been peace and freedom. To achieve these goals requires the active involvement of a broad range of American citizenry. The American people must be included in an open dialogue regarding defense, foreign policy and an international economic agenda. We must create a national security doctrine that is neither a Republican nor a Democrat plan, but is rather ‘‘the American plan.’’ By identifying United States goals and the means to achieve them, the national strategy of Peace Through Strength will unite the American people behind their Government in world affairs.